Take me out to the Webbies – Baseball’s digital arm to broadcast best-of-web awards

The annual Webby Awards landed a big free-agent Monday by signing the Internet arm of Major League Baseball to a two-year deal.

The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, which honors the best of the Web, lined up MLB Advanced Media to live stream the annual Webby Awards ceremony, which this year is scheduled for June 13 in New York.

The deal is interesting because it’s the first time MLB Advanced Media, baseball’s Internet and interactive media company, will be involved in a non-sports event and it may open the door for other non-baseball partnerships.

Jointly owned by the 30 big league clubs, MLB Advanced Media runs individual team websites, such as SFGiants.com and OaklandAthletics.com, and the main MLB.com site. Last year, it delivered more than 250 million live streams of baseball games.

But the company has also developed Web streaming technologies that have also been used for golf and basketball by ESPN and CBS.

In a press release, MLB said this year’s 15th annual award show webcast will include social media, multiple streams and custom mobile phone and tablet apps.